The Power—and Peril—of Recognition

From the burnout behind the ballroom to the quiet rebellion of those who said “don’t vote for me,” the events world is having a reckoning—with recognition, integrity, and itself.

We have reached peak applause.

Every week, the feeds fill with another Top 50, Power 100, or Most Influential list. The intention is noble—celebrating excellence—but the effect is exhaustion. Recognition, once a sacred gesture, has become industrialized, manufactured, and mass-distributed like swag at a convention. It’s as if the Oscars handed out golden…